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So, this was interesting (especially NOLA)
The funeral was at the church I went to until I was 16. There was an issue between the old pastor and my mother re: women being "silent" in the church. She was a very popular Sunday school teacher, probably more popular than he was, and she was probably too liberal of a Baptist for him. So we left and I can say that was probably what started off my crisis of faith.
The funeral was for my mentor and someone I always wanted to have been my mom. So, I went b/c it was for her. She always told me that the church had really changed, that she had been really vocal in pushing for equality in their faith. I always kinda pooh-poohed it.
Well, their new pastor is something else. I loved him and DH and I seriously are discussing attending. He read the letter that Paul wrote at the end of Corinthians re: women being "silent" and said, "I think Paul and Dr. B are having a very serious discussion about that letter and I think Paul is having to do a lot of listening." He followed up with, "We ordain women, b/c we baptize girls." He spoke a lot on the issue of women in the church (I found it appropriate b/c Dr. B was very passionate about the issue and he obviously agreed with her viewpoint). But the master stroke was when he spoke about Paul's letter. He said, People in this faith will argue about should we take the Bible literally? Should we take it figuratively? I don't know the answer. But I think we should take the Bible seriously. We were instructed to love God with all of our heart, our soul and our MINDS. God never asked us to check our minds at the church door."
I am seriously floored by all of this and feel like I have a ton to think about all of this. I'm glad I'm not at work today.
Re: So, this was interesting (especially NOLA)
These are the things that make me regain my faith (no pun intended) in organized religion.
My Catholic education (especially high school) was actually very liberal. If I could find a church that was as open as my high school I don't think I'd be having the crisis of faith I'm going through now.
Crap...I Mean Crafts
I'm glad that you like the new pastor, and are thinking about what he said.
This makes me happy.:)
I know I couldn't go to a church that thought that women should remain silent. Women played many important roles in the bible, and have been the foundation of many a church. I could see how that church wasn't a good fit for you and your mom.
I just a friendly gal looking for options.
I'm really curious about that too, Zsa. I did recognize quite a few faces of the older folk there, but that might've been b/c of Dr. B.
I'm thinking about calling and setting up a meeting with the pastor to be like, M'kay, is this how the majority REALLY feels or is this what you said b/c you were speaking at Dr. B's funeral? He did mention that they had been working with a group that was something about moderation of faith or something.
I don't know the full story of when we left. I know there were other issues, but they were all brought about b/c my mother (and the rest of our family) weren't "silent".
The old pastor also spoke at the funeral. I never really liked him anyway. But Dr. B went to Barnard university, which was the female school that eventually was folded into Columbia University when it went co-ed. Columbia is where she received her graduate and doctoral degrees. When he was doing her eulogy, he 1) sounded like he was reading it and 2) had no idea of really how amazing and important she was in her scholarly fields. It was annoying and hard not to be biased against him anyway. She had told me they had their run-ins over women's roles and her very vocal liberal Democrat support.
New pastor really seemed to get it. He spoke of her fondly and had some great memories of her it seemed like. I seriously judge HIM by HER standards and he seemed to have passed.
This